Job Loss among Hospital Workers: Antecedents and Consequences

Abstract

This article looks at hospital workers in a large Canadian teaching hospital that was surveyed from 1995 to 1997. It compares the perceptions of the working environment and the coping mechanisms of employees who lost their jobs with those of the workers who remained with the hospital. Those who left perceived themselves to be significantly more emotionally exhausted than those who remained. In 1997, employees still with the hospital reported greater anxiety and emotional exhaustion than the workers who had left. The conclusion reached is that as the public sector attempts to become more efficient, the human cost of downsizing should be considered.